Hebrews 7:18-22 – Jesus’ Priesthood Is Greater Than Aaron’s Part 3

Jesus’ Priesthood is Powerful: it brings a new hope and a new covenant

Session 19 – August 27, 2020 – Men’s Morning Hebrews Haverim

Our Men’s Haverim group is reading through and discussing the book of Hebrews during the months of August and September. For more information, see this blog post.

¹⁸ The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless ¹⁹ (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.

²⁰ And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, ²¹ but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him:

“The Lord has sworn
    and will not change his mind:
    ‘You are a priest forever.’”

²² Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.

Hebrews 7:18-22 New International Version

Summary:

• The author continues with his logical argument about the former law and how a better law was introduced by a new priesthood.
• Jesus’ priesthood is powerful because it brings a better hope and was established by an oath made by God.
• The oath from the Lord is permanent since He will not change His mind, and he established Jesus as a priest forever.
• The oath makes Jesus able to guarantee a better covenant and law.

Other Thoughts:

• The Old law could not prevent sin or disobedience, it could only provide punishment. The New law and covenant is perfect because it provides complete forgiveness and salvation.
• The book of Hebrews is thought to date to between AD 60 and AD 70, when the Temple was destroyed. The Jewish Christians were facing intense persecution from both the Jews and Romans, and would have been tempted to turn back to their old practices. Following Jesus in the New covenant would not take away persecution, but would provide a complete salvation; the old ways only led to death but the new ways led to a completed life. “Jesus is Lord” means that He now takes responsibility for our sins and bringing us to salvation, not our own sacrifices for our sins as under the old covenant.
• Romans 8:3 tells us that the old ways were weak and useless in forgiving our sin, as Hebrews 7:18 says, but that God sent His Son “in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering” for us.
• Note that there are many differences in the wording of this section among various translations, but they work in harmony. The NKJV mentions Melchizedek at the end of v. 20 to complete the quote from Psalm 110:4, but his name is not mentioned in the Greek for v. 20. Also, the NLT mentions that it was the priesthood that was weak and useleness, while the ESV, NIV and other versions point to the regulation or commandments. These are not contradictions or inconsistencies, but reflect the style of the interpretations: NKJV and ESV are word for word translations, NIV is thought for thought and NLT is a paraphrase. For more information on this, see the note at the end of my post on Philippians 4:10-13.
• The author mentions Jesus as a guarantor of the better covenant we have, or forgiveness of sins and salvation in the new covenant. In today’s world, we depend on guarantees, like 2 day shipping from Amazon, but we have a more dependable and amazing guarantee in our relationship with Jesus!
• Do you depend on your relationship in Jesus or let yourself doubt and not live in the confidence he secured for you?